I’m not sure exactly why, but I don’t usually put a lot of thought into what I could do to improve the world as a whole. There are so many people that want to change the world in amazing ways. There are people that won’t quit until they leave their mark on society. I, on the other hand, tend to focus on myself and what I need to do every day to be successful. I don’t see myself as a dreamer, but more of a doer. I have always believed that if I do what I am supposed to do, and if I put my best effort into everything I do, I will eventually end up where I want to be in life. I am by no means trying to put down these other people. I wish I had a noble cause that I felt so strongly about. But until I do, I am going to try to be the best person I can be every single day, and improve myself as a person constantly.
I have always been raised to believe that you get out of something what you put into it. Along with this, I have been taught to be accountable for my actions. These two ideas have got me far in life. However, I see many people on a personal level that do not live by these “rules”. I have close family and friends that are in very bad situations for a variety of reasons. For the most part, their unfortunate circumstances are a result of their own doing.
I think many people today are brought up believing that whatever bad things happen to them are someone else’s fault. Many people convince themselves that if they are not successful, it is because the “system” is against them or because of some circumstances out of their control. Although this may be true in some cases, the vast majority of these people have given up on the idea that they could have an internal “locus of control”. People with an external locus of control tend to look at themselves as victims of society and choose to stop putting forth an effort. Once people stop trying, it is almost impossible to be successful.
If I could influence society in one way, I would encourage people to be more responsible for themselves and their actions. I do not believe that a healthy individual should ever be taught to be reliant on anyone else for anything. I know far too many people who suffer because they rely on their parents, a spouse or significant other, or the government to get by. These people will never be able to contribute positively to the world if they do nothing but sit and wait to be taken care of. I would encourage people to take command of their own lives and to become reliant on only themselves. If everyone acted in this way, our entire society would be more efficient and prosperous. In the meantime, I will continue to work as hard as I can to be in control of my own future, and hopefully if I ever come up with a plan that can change the world in a positive way, I will be in a position to execute it.
I can see where you are coming from, but what about people who start out with less than others? If person A and and person B are running a race, and person A starts out at the starting line (maybe they come from a school lacking resources or a disrupted home) and person B starts at the halfway mark (for instance their parents are married and their family is monetarily well-off) if both sprint full speed it is extremely likely person B will get to the finish line first. People are not all born into society with the same opportunities. Many people face forms of oppression from the “system” you describe. Person A in my example have to work 2 or 3 times harder than Person B to get to the same place. I think a lot of times people can fall into seeing themselves as victims. But I also think people who see themselves as victims are victims. And so I wonder how to help build resiliency and opportunity for people who struggle and who do really want to be living their best lives. I think you are right, people have to be responsible for themselves. But I think as people we are also responsible for one another.
Free will and determinism are what I thought of as I read your post. I, too, have thought a lot about family and friends I have that make mistake after mistake, and just don’t seem to be the best version of themselves that I know they can be–or that I want them to be. Sometimes they share my belief, sometimes they see it a different way, perhaps making excuses that I just simply don’t find to be valid. But I also am not them. I can’t really know their truth, just as they can’t always know mine. So I try to understand as best I can, it’s the only way we can exist, really.
Imagine a cliff, and imagine four people. One person declares that, “I have free will. I will that I fly, and I will fly.” That person jumps off the cliff. They are immediately confronted with constraints, dire ones. They fall to their death.
A second person says, “I too have free will, I choose not to jump off of this cliff.” Well, they didn’t jump! And they lived on into old age. Good for them.
A third person is followed by a bandit. One without good sense. This bandit is strong and attempts to push this person off of the cliff. The victim here shouts, “I have free will! I will that you do not push me off of her.” This person struggles, tries to not be pushed, but the bandit is strong. The bandit says, “I will push you off this cliff and take your money!” Like I said, the bandit does not have good sense. He gets no money, he pushes this person off the cliff to their death.
A fourth person stands at the cliff and wants to fly. She spent months designing and testing a handglider. At the cliff, with her handglider, she declares, “I have free will, I will to fly!” She takes off with the handglider, and she flies! The next day, she flies again. A storm hits, killing her.
How much control does one have over their life? It would be ignorant to say “none.” But it probably would also be ignorant to say “total.” Most would accept that, so this is a bad question and bad answers. The question, then, should be set up around specific topics. Economic success? Educational success? Happiness? If we can’t control those outcomes totally, what constrains us? How do we deal with those constraints? Are some constrained more than others? Why? How? Can anything be done about that?
For your campaign, what do you want to focus on? For a course on public writing, that means trying to imagine making a rhetorical intervention that can reach an audience, to try to change their attitudes and/or spur them toward some kind of action. What attitudes and/or actions do you want here? What would you like to work on?
Looking forward to seeing what you end up working on!